The Year;
Seventeen of mmxvii

It’s the last day of the year, time to look back! The past few days I’ve seen many of people posting their highlights of the past year with the hashtag #17of2017. The goal is easy: share seventeen things you enjoyed, seventeen things that have made you happy this year. I love thinking about this – happy thoughts are always a good idea, right? – so I decided to create my own #17of2017 and share it here. Here we go!

I. Botanical Garden = Love. I’m not a botanical garden newbie, but this year I had such a blast visiting so many! I’ve been to two in Amsterdam, two in Rotterdam, one in Delft, one in Leiden and even two outside of the Netherlands: the gardens in Wrocław, Poland, and in Akureyri, Iceland. Hope to extend my list next year!

II. I’ve been to Iceland. Speaking of Iceland: I’ve finally been there! I’ve been dreaming about visiting Iceland for years and to finally see the country’s beauty in real life was an amazing experience.

III. I’ve got a tattoo! Finally! It took me a bit too long – I’ve wanted a tattoo since I was 16! – but it’s finally there. Heads-up: I might not stick with just one…

IV. A new book series to love: The Dresden Files. I love discovering new book series, especially when you’re late to the party and have a whole pile of books to catch up with. This year I discovered The Dresded Files, an exciting urban fantasy series set in Chicago. I’m currently reading book six, only nine to go!

V. Upping my Insta-game. With my botanical garden trips I’ve been working quite a lot on keeping my Instagram feed green: setting a theme has been great! I love scrolling though my photos this year.

VI. Podcasts. After totally adoring podcasts for years after I got my first iPod, I lost track of them the last few years. Fortunately I rediscovered the platform and I’ve been loving it. There’s so much to discover! My favorites are Thinking Sideways, Lore (both mystery/true crime), Hashtag Authetic (from Insta-queen Sarah Tasker), the NOS tech podcast (Dutch technews) and The Witch Wave, a recently discovered podcasts for ‘bewitching conversations’. I love listening to podcasts when walking, going for a run or whilst cleaning the house.

VII. Divinity Original Sin II. A few years ago my guy and I had a blast with the game Divinity Original Sin, a fantasy game that he and I (gamer & n00b) could enjoy together. We’ve been working our ways to the sequel the last few weeks, and it’s so good.

VIII. Guinea Pigs exist. Something everyone should be thankful for – all day, every day.

IX. Roadburn. I finally got to visit this amazing festival! I had such a blast – it’s amazing to see there are so many people liking this small niche of gloomy music. More about Roadburn here.

X. Finishing the 100 Day Project. When I started I was really, really hoping to keep it up, so when I did I was super happy. I made a hundred illustrations in a hundred days, kinda awesome! You can see all illustrations on my Dribbble account.

XI. Exploring with friends… Going places with friends (cities, gardens, coffee bars…) is a highlight every year: I love finding gems in my own city or explore others.

XII. …exploring alone. Next to that I love my solo-trips: it’s so much fun to just go somewhere alone, do only things you like, and head home. My favorite this year was a visit to Delft: I went to a botanical garden, had a coffee and visited not one but two cemeteries. Yay for solo days!

XIII. Luxembourg. When we wanted to go on a short trip earlier this year my boyfriend and I headed to Luxembourg. I often visited the (mini) country as a kid, and didn’t remember it being so beautiful! The lush forests stole my heart, I can’t wait to go back!

XIV. The new office. In the Summer the agency I work at relocated to a new office. The old office was in a great spot (right next to my favorite park & with a view on the harbour), but the inside was really office-ey and not too inspiring. The new one is situated right next to Central Station, and way more creative! It’s located in an old post office and the office itself has cozy little living rooms where we can work. Next to that I enjoy being so close to Starbucks, I enjoy my bi-weekly soy chai tea latte a lot! (I’m pretty sure this is what you see when you look up basic white bitch in the urban dictionary!).

XV. Plant based food. Eating & cooking vegan dishes is the best. It makes me so happy. I love my plant-based cookbooks: creating something truly tasteful without harming animals in any way makes food taste so much better.

XVI. Rotterdam. I’m still so happy to live in this wonderful city. Every year it surprises me again: I find new places to go to, witness a new event or discover a hot-spot I knew existed.

XVII. Music! With a Spotify subscription you never run out of music: this can make me so happy! I have quite a broad yet eclectic taste in music (you can send the ‘Hipster Award’ for saying that to my agent) and I’m always so amazed that I discover new bands all the time.

…and that’s it! I’m lucky to have such a happy life, – it’s harder to narrow down my happiness to just seventeen items than finding then – hope to keep that up in the next year. Have you done a #17of2017 list yourself? I love to know what’s on it!